“Such partnerships will ensure that we carry forward the legacy of Madiba even beyond the 20 years of freedom and democracy,” Mabudafhasi said.
Her spokesperson Peter Mbelengwa said other partners in the initiative involving eight schools, included Capricorn FM and the Fetakgomo Local Municipality.
He said philanthropist, businessman and mining magnate Dr Tim Tebeila has in the past week embarked on a nationwide Back to School campaign that has seen many primary school children from impoverished communities benefit from desks, food parcels, school supplies, uniforms, books and stationery.
He said the desks are made out of biomass from cleared invasive alien plants and manufactured at the Department of Environmental Affairs’ Working for Water Eco Furniture Factory situated in Heidelberg, Gauteng.
“These initiatives have shown the viability of the approach of utilising invasive alien biomass to create jobs, in making value-added products relevant to government’s needs, and reducing the cost of clearing the invasive plants,” he said.
Mbelengwa said from Limpopo, the tour will move to the Eastern Cape, where other primary schools will be identified as beneficiaries.
“The Back to School campaign started at Mvelaphanda Primary School in Tembisa, north of Johannesburg, then moved to Soweto, where children from Mochochonono Primary School were given the opportunity to benefit from grants by the Tim Tebeila Foundation, together with the foundation’s esteemed co-sponsor partners such as Kaya FM and ABI – the Amalgamated Beverage Industries company,” Mbelengwa said.

Deputy Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs Rejoice Mabudafhasi has handed over 300 school desks to a rural school in Limpopo as part of the Back to School campaign Mabudafhasi handed the donation to Legana Batho Primary School in Apel in partnership with the Tim Tebeila Foundation She said the department partnered with the Tim Tebeila Foundation after they identified eight primary schools in the Sekhukhune region of Mohlaletse